You may need to look at creating a RAID array in your process, loading the driver is not enough. As a test take your test system and manually create a RAID array then retry your remote install, if that works, you'll need to figure out how to do it during the remote install. I recently assisted a customer with his remote install with PXE boot, look at what he did.
We got the array created, did you try it without the utility partition in case you were specifying the partition 0 to install to?
Just go stepwize to identify the failure point, the previous guy had a path statement he did not configure, so he was not getting the files he needed till he put them at the root.
Currently there are no partitions at all (originally, yes there was one). If I boot into Linux (using a LiveCD of SLAX which recognizes the PERC) I see one 72G disk (the RAID1 container) with no partitions:
root@slax:~# fdisk /dev/sda
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/sda: 72.7 GB, 72746008567 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 8844 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
Command (m for help):
Yet with no partitions at all, I still receive the error.
If I create 1 partition, I still receive the error.
It seems the number of, existence of, or lack of partitions does not make a difference.
May I also ask where to check to see what partition Windows is attempting to install into? I figured with "Repartition" and "UseWholeDisk" (see below) RIS would take care of partitioning the system.
For clarity's sake, here is the contents of my entire riprep.sif:
[OSChooser]
Description ="Dell PE 1950, Windows Server 2003 STD 32-Bit, 2007-07-31"
Help ="PowerEdge 1950 image of Windows 2003 Standard, 32-bit, created on 2007-07-31"
LaunchFile ="%INSTALLPATH%\%MACHINETYPE%\templates\startrom.com"
ImageType =SYSPREP
Version="5.2 (3790)"
SysPrepSystemRoot="Mirror1\UserData\WINDOWS"
HalName=halmacpi.dll
ProductType=1
Message Edited by AaronDodd on 08-02-2007 02:31 PM
I will research the .sif file some more. I did read the thread whose link you posted previously. We do not have the Windows Preinstallation Kit and thus cannot make custom PE images as he did. We did, when setting up RIS, supply a Windows 2003 SP1 CD which is extracted to make the boot image currently being used during the RIS process, as documented in TechNet.
The Dell DTK that the other gentleman was using does not work for this setup (it cannot apply the HAPI drivers because it cannot find the saved hive files), but I had previously, using the drivers in the kit, updated the CD image's i386 folder with the NIC drivers required which got me past the "This image does not contain the necessary drivers for your network card" error I had been having.
My understanding was while this base image is used for booting, once a network connection is established the .sif file within my RiPrep image will take precedence (which appears to be the case since I do not have the PERC drivers in that boot image, only my RiPrep image).
From that link, would you be suggesting that we need to create a PE image? I'm curious because Microsoft's documentation doesn't mention a need for this and only steps you through adding the CD image, but if I can get my hands on the PE kit I'll give it a go. That gentleman seemed to be using RIS to boot PE on a machine, our interest is to just deploy the image without using the added PE utilities.
I assume the problem, based on your responses so far, are with my .sif configuration file. It is the one auto-generated from the riprep.exe run on the source machine to create this image.
Message Edited by AaronDodd on 08-02-2007 04:49 PM
I was just providing the link as an example of another customer's remote install, there was yet another one about a month ago that was using the same method as are you, and he had a dislexia moment on a filename. You should see if you can make selections in the riprep.exe run.
I'm thinking that if you started a local install and let it format a partition, then abort out, then your remote install would work as written. If it does then we'll know that the filesystem leavealone parameter is what needs to be changed.
I assume in my case the unattended.txt is split between riprep.sif in the image's i386\template folder and the txtsetup.oem in the $oem$\textmode folder as I'm not performing a CD-based install. Other than that the settings look similar, aside from some extra keys that riprep.exe added to my .sif file compared to that.
Also, I do not have any references in my riprep.sif to the driver's actual files, aside from the OEMBootfiles section listing the filenames in the TEXTMODE folder.
I have confirmed the filenames are spelled correctly (the txtsetup.oem is straight from the dell driver archive, and the riprep.sif entries are actually pasted in from a dosprompt, just to be very sure of the spelling ;-) )
Regarding partitioning, I did infact use OpenManage first to start a deployment so I could boot with BartPE and copy that deployment off (to get a copy of the PERC drivers and the TEXTMODE folder's settings), and after doing so had tried to deploy via RIS the first time. I assume OpenManage would have created the partitions to which you're referring (I did this without it creating a Dell Utility partition). I had received the same error then. It was after that I began testing by removing all partitions and then adding one back, also to no avail.
Another interesting note is, using these same settings, I can boot a VirtualPC instance with a PXE boot floppy and deploy the image successfully from the RIS (at least as far as auto-partitioning and file copy, I cancelled it after that).
If you do think its the FileSystem= key, what would you suggest changing it to? In all my searches every example, including the risndprep.sif in the 2003 CD image have the key as "FileSystem=LeaveAlone", but I'm willing to change it and try :-D
Could this actually be a driver issue despite getting past the point I'd normally see "no harddrives found"? I assume VirtualPC isn't loading the PERC driver even if I specify it, since there's no PERC . . . could you confirm the drivers to download for a RIS deployment in textmode? I had gone to support.dell.com and downloaded the windows2003 drivers, and I also tried this by taking the contents of the $oem$\textmode from a PE1950 just after running OpenManage to create the install point on the harddrive, both with the same results (not enough partitions...)
(On a separate note, I had wanted to try using WDS and the WIM format instead of RIS originally, but could not find PowerEdge drivers for the boot WIM. Does Dell have Vista drivers for the broadcom and PERC controllers perchance?)
M/S article HOWTO:
Unattended Setup Parameters for Unattend.txt File looks like I'm barking up the wrong tree with the filesystem parameter, it's for converting FAT32 to NTFS. Doing some reading...
First off I want to thank you for all of your assistance.
The issue appears to have been twofold.
1) In my riprep.sif file, I had the following:
OemPreinstall = No
After reading the unattended.txt link you sent me from Microsoft, I read the line stating that the MassStorageDrivers section's entry for an OEM driver only takes effect if OemPreinstall = "YES".
Therefore, I changed it to "YES" and rebooted.
2: At this point I was greeted with the error "TXTSETUP.OEM caused an error (21) in" message as the gentleman in that other post you linked to was receiving. Googling, I came across a document mentioning (21) refers to a missing file.
After verifying all the file names and location, on a whim I attempted moving my $oem$ folder from my image\ folder to the CD boot image's i386 folder. I.e., I moved it from:
DELL-GaryS
777 Posts
0
August 2nd, 2007 17:00
Message Edited by DELL-GaryS on 08-02-2007 01:32 PM
DELL-GaryS
777 Posts
0
August 2nd, 2007 17:00
AaronDodd
9 Posts
0
August 2nd, 2007 17:00
Thank you for the reply.
I've tried the following:
1. Performing the RIS installation onto a system with an existing RAID configuration (one virtual disk with three partitions, 2 dell and 1 windows)
2. Entering the DRAC configuration and re-initializing the virtual disk (removing all partitions)
3. Booting into linux and creating 1 Windows partition
4. Entering the DRAC configuration and removing and re-creating the RAID
In all cases, when performing the RIS install the RAID has been configured (RAID1, two physical disks)
DELL-GaryS
777 Posts
0
August 2nd, 2007 18:00
AaronDodd
9 Posts
0
August 2nd, 2007 18:00
Thanks for the follow up.
Currently there are no partitions at all (originally, yes there was one). If I boot into Linux (using a LiveCD of SLAX which recognizes the PERC) I see one 72G disk (the RAID1 container) with no partitions:
root@slax:~# fdisk /dev/sda
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/sda: 72.7 GB, 72746008567 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 8844 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
Command (m for help):
Yet with no partitions at all, I still receive the error.
If I create 1 partition, I still receive the error.
It seems the number of, existence of, or lack of partitions does not make a difference.
May I also ask where to check to see what partition Windows is attempting to install into? I figured with "Repartition" and "UseWholeDisk" (see below) RIS would take care of partitioning the system.
For clarity's sake, here is the contents of my entire riprep.sif:
[data]
floppyless = "1"
msdosinitiated = "1"
Orisrc="\\%SERVERNAME%\RemInst\%INSTALLPATH%\%MACHINETYPE%"
OriTyp = "4"
LocalSourceOnCD = 1
DisableAdminAccountOnDomainJoin = 1
[SetupData]
OsLoadOptions = "/noguiboot /fastdetect"
SetupSourceDevice ="\Device\LanmanRedirector\%SERVERNAME%\RemInst\%INSTALLPATH%"
SysPrepDevice="\Device\LanmanRedirector\%SERVERNAME%\RemInst\%SYSPREPPATH%"
SysPrepDriversDevice="\Device\LanmanRedirector\%SERVERNAME%\RemInst\%SYSPREPDRIVERS%"
[Unattended]
OemPreinstall = no
FileSystem = LeaveAlone
ExtendOEMPartition = 0
TargetPath = \WINDOWS
OemSkipEula = yes
InstallFilesPath = "\\%SERVERNAME%\RemInst\%INSTALLPATH%\%MACHINETYPE%"
LegacyNIC = 1
UnattendedMode = FullUnattended
WaitForReboot = no
[MassStorageDrivers]
"DELL PERC5 and PERC6/CERC6 RAID Controller Driver (Server 2003 32 bit)"="OEM"
[OEMBootFiles]
megasas.sys
nodev.inf
oemsetup.inf
percsas.cat
percsas.sys
readme.txt
txtsetup.oem
[UserData]
FullName = "%USERFIRSTNAME% %USERLASTNAME%"
OrgName = "%ORGNAME%"
ComputerName ="%MACHINENAME%"
[GuiUnattended]
OemSkipWelcome = 1
OemSkipRegional = 1
TimeZone = %TIMEZONE%
AdminPassword = "*"
[LicenseFilePrintData]
AutoMode = PerSeat
[Display]
BitsPerPel = 16
XResolution = 800
YResolution = 600
VRefresh = 60
[Networking]
[NetServices]
MS_Server=params.MS_PSched
[Identification]
JoinDomain = %MACHINEDOMAIN%
DoOldStyleDomainJoin = Yes
[RemoteInstall]
Repartition = Yes
UseWholeDisk = Yes
[OSChooser]
Description ="Dell PE 1950, Windows Server 2003 STD 32-Bit, 2007-07-31"
Help ="PowerEdge 1950 image of Windows 2003 Standard, 32-bit, created on 2007-07-31"
LaunchFile ="%INSTALLPATH%\%MACHINETYPE%\templates\startrom.com"
ImageType =SYSPREP
Version="5.2 (3790)"
SysPrepSystemRoot="Mirror1\UserData\WINDOWS"
HalName=halmacpi.dll
ProductType=1
Message Edited by AaronDodd on 08-02-2007 02:31 PM
AaronDodd
9 Posts
0
August 2nd, 2007 20:00
I will research the .sif file some more. I did read the thread whose link you posted previously. We do not have the Windows Preinstallation Kit and thus cannot make custom PE images as he did. We did, when setting up RIS, supply a Windows 2003 SP1 CD which is extracted to make the boot image currently being used during the RIS process, as documented in TechNet.
The Dell DTK that the other gentleman was using does not work for this setup (it cannot apply the HAPI drivers because it cannot find the saved hive files), but I had previously, using the drivers in the kit, updated the CD image's i386 folder with the NIC drivers required which got me past the "This image does not contain the necessary drivers for your network card" error I had been having.
My understanding was while this base image is used for booting, once a network connection is established the .sif file within my RiPrep image will take precedence (which appears to be the case since I do not have the PERC drivers in that boot image, only my RiPrep image).
From that link, would you be suggesting that we need to create a PE image? I'm curious because Microsoft's documentation doesn't mention a need for this and only steps you through adding the CD image, but if I can get my hands on the PE kit I'll give it a go. That gentleman seemed to be using RIS to boot PE on a machine, our interest is to just deploy the image without using the added PE utilities.
I assume the problem, based on your responses so far, are with my .sif configuration file. It is the one auto-generated from the riprep.exe run on the source machine to create this image.
Message Edited by AaronDodd on 08-02-2007 04:49 PM
DELL-GaryS
777 Posts
0
August 2nd, 2007 21:00
Message Edited by DELL-GaryS on 08-02-2007 05:58 PM
AaronDodd
9 Posts
0
August 3rd, 2007 00:00
I assume in my case the unattended.txt is split between riprep.sif in the image's i386\template folder and the txtsetup.oem in the $oem$\textmode folder as I'm not performing a CD-based install. Other than that the settings look similar, aside from some extra keys that riprep.exe added to my .sif file compared to that.
Also, I do not have any references in my riprep.sif to the driver's actual files, aside from the OEMBootfiles section listing the filenames in the TEXTMODE folder.
I have confirmed the filenames are spelled correctly (the txtsetup.oem is straight from the dell driver archive, and the riprep.sif entries are actually pasted in from a dosprompt, just to be very sure of the spelling ;-) )
Regarding partitioning, I did infact use OpenManage first to start a deployment so I could boot with BartPE and copy that deployment off (to get a copy of the PERC drivers and the TEXTMODE folder's settings), and after doing so had tried to deploy via RIS the first time. I assume OpenManage would have created the partitions to which you're referring (I did this without it creating a Dell Utility partition). I had received the same error then. It was after that I began testing by removing all partitions and then adding one back, also to no avail.
Another interesting note is, using these same settings, I can boot a VirtualPC instance with a PXE boot floppy and deploy the image successfully from the RIS (at least as far as auto-partitioning and file copy, I cancelled it after that).
If you do think its the FileSystem= key, what would you suggest changing it to? In all my searches every example, including the risndprep.sif in the 2003 CD image have the key as "FileSystem=LeaveAlone", but I'm willing to change it and try :-D
Could this actually be a driver issue despite getting past the point I'd normally see "no harddrives found"? I assume VirtualPC isn't loading the PERC driver even if I specify it, since there's no PERC . . . could you confirm the drivers to download for a RIS deployment in textmode? I had gone to support.dell.com and downloaded the windows2003 drivers, and I also tried this by taking the contents of the $oem$\textmode from a PE1950 just after running OpenManage to create the install point on the harddrive, both with the same results (not enough partitions...)
(On a separate note, I had wanted to try using WDS and the WIM format instead of RIS originally, but could not find PowerEdge drivers for the boot WIM. Does Dell have Vista drivers for the broadcom and PERC controllers perchance?)
Again thanks for all your help on this.
DELL-GaryS
777 Posts
0
August 3rd, 2007 14:00
DELL-GaryS
777 Posts
0
August 3rd, 2007 14:00
AaronDodd
9 Posts
0
August 3rd, 2007 18:00
First off I want to thank you for all of your assistance.
The issue appears to have been twofold.
1) In my riprep.sif file, I had the following:
OemPreinstall = No
After reading the unattended.txt link you sent me from Microsoft, I read the line stating that the MassStorageDrivers section's entry for an OEM driver only takes effect if OemPreinstall = "YES".
Therefore, I changed it to "YES" and rebooted.
2: At this point I was greeted with the error "TXTSETUP.OEM caused an error (21) in" message as the gentleman in that other post you linked to was receiving. Googling, I came across a document mentioning (21) refers to a missing file.
After verifying all the file names and location, on a whim I attempted moving my $oem$ folder from my image\ folder to the CD boot image's i386 folder. I.e., I moved it from:
d:\remoteinstall\setup\english\images\PE1950\$oem$\TEXTMODE\
to:
d:\remoteinstall\setup\english\images\W2K3Base\$oem$\TEXTMODE\
where "W2K3Base" was the image created by the RIS administration utility when I imported the 2003 CD.
On the next boot, viola, RIS worked!
Thank you for leading me to the right documents :)